So, right at the end of my vacation, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said this, on the Senate floor:
When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here -- I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:
"On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor."
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.
Of course, the Righties are treating this as treasonous commentary (and we'll put aside the complete lack of uproar over Rick Santorum's terrible comments when he compared Democrats fighting to save the filibuster as comparable to Hitler standing in Paris and saying "How dare you bomb my city!"). It is pretty clear, when taking Durbin's comments in context, he's saying that that a description, by one of our own FBI officers, is so chilling that one would think it came from the Nazis or another inhumane and evil regime.
He did not call our soldiers Nazis. He said the actions of some of our officials are so despicable that their actions should be considered treasonous. That the Right is so whole-heartedly willing to dismiss the acts but condemn the description of the acts as treasonous is unsettling, but shouldn't be surprising.
And it is apropos of my post, below, and subsequent conversation with Jay Tea. That the right is getting so upset with Dick Durbin's comments is just further evidence that they have no issues with torture whatsoever. Jay Tea was just the first I'd read who actually tried to make an argument for it so matter of factly.
Maybe this is just an area of fundamental disagreement between the Left and the Right. We think that torture is wrong, absolutely, and indicates the degrees to which this Administration has been willing to auction off our greatest ideals and highest principals for ease and, perhaps(?), some kind of emotional "God, it feels good to stop holding back" mentality. The Right does not. Again, I'll just say that I'm perfectly willing to be on the moral, if embattled, side of this conversation.
ADDITIONAL READING: Wizbang - In for a Penny, In for a Pound, Orcinus - Eliminate Them
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